John Oliver accuses fake royal expert of being too British

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver discussed Tommy Muscatello, who fooled several media outlets into thinking he was a British royal wedding expert named Thomas J. Mace-Archer-Mills. While he appears British, Muscatello is really from Bolton Landing, N.Y.

He presented himself as hyper-British. From dressing like an extra from Downton Abbey to talking like Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady, Muscatello appeared to be a caricature of a British person.

John Oliver even took exception to Muscatello’s alter ego. He said, “The name Thomas J. Mace-Archer-Mills … however, is offensively British. That is the equivalent of a British person pretending to be an American and calling yourself Jefferson Budweiser McNuggets Jr. It’s actively racist.”

Muscatello insists that he is a royal expert and that the details of how he became one don’t matter. Playing Monday morning quarterback, Oliver suggested that Muscatello should have done what another famous “fake” British celebrity did. If you really want to pull the wool over people’s eyes, he said, “get a spot on The Daily Show, bide your time, perfect your fake accent, and eventually land your own weekly program on HBO.” He added, “Oh, have I said too much?”